


Dinner at Seven

by crookedsaint



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, background edling, mr garfiel has an inexplicably large home, paninya wreaks chaos, winry is a fool
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2018-09-25
Packaged: 2019-07-17 09:29:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16092848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crookedsaint/pseuds/crookedsaint
Summary: “Paninya is a wonderful person. She’s strong, she’s tough, she’s witty, she’s frankly gorgeous  when the sun hits those muscles just right, and…” Winry blinked. “Sorry. Lost my train of thought."Ed and Ling come over for dinner. Paninya has an idea.





	Dinner at Seven

**Author's Note:**

> for @homunculiii on tumblr!

The phone was ringing and Winry was ready to kill a man.

She’d had a splitting headache since the night before and, since Mister Garfiel was out of town on business, she’d been fielding calls from clients all day. It had made absolutely nothing better. Sure, call her foolish for saying yes to going with Paninya to that festival, but at least she’d had a good time? That is, up until Paninya had tripped her just to divert some tourists long enough to slip her fingers into their pockets. Despite living in a near-constant state of regret and soreness, Winry kept agreeing to stay out late and accompany Paninya on her various exploits around town.

Well, the headache could wait. Winry stretched out her arms, stood, and crossed her workshop to the phone on the wall. “Studio Garfiel, how can I help you?”

“Winry! Oh, thank goodness. I was already preparing to deal with the man himself. Last time I called, he refused to hand you the phone until I told him every tiny detail of how my leg was getting on.”

She couldn’t help but stifle a giggle. “You aren’t wrong, Ed. He can get long-winded, sure, but that’s how you know he cares.”

“Oh, sure, sure, right. Whatever. He can care all he wants, but I personally care about somebody else who just happens to be continually ‘indisposed, so sorry, Mister Elric, anyway…’”

“Yeah, all right. I’ll admit I’ve been busy lately.”

“No shit!”

“What are you calling about, though?” Winry twirled the phone cord between her first two fingers, staring at the mess her workshop had become in recent days. Maybe she had been overworking herself. Between her job and Paninya’s antics, she’d hardly had time to sweep, much less tidy the myriad objects stuffed into her shelves. She was glad to finally have her own workshop that couldn’t get wandered into by any inquiring passerby, but it was small, and automail requires some serious hardware. 

Ah, well. She’d take care of it tomorrow.

“Oh, I’m about to pass through Rush Valley with Ling. We’re on our way to some sort of diplomacy thing in Central—”

Winry snorted at this. “I’m assuming you’re not allowed to attend?”

“Oh, I am.”

“...And how many words are you allowed to say?”

“I’d have to count, but it’s not many. I’m supposed to mostly stick to ‘Yes, sir,’ and ‘No, sir,’ until we actually get in private with old Mustang.”

“You realize he’s the Fuhrer now, right? You can’t exactly go around calling him that anymore.”

“Like hell I can’t!” Ed’s voice cracks on the word hell. Man, as much as they’ve both grown up, Winry can still rile him up like old times. “He recruited me to the military when I was eleven, so as far as I’m concerned, I could call him a bastard if I felt like it. Besides, I’m a favorite of the Emperor of his greatest allied nation. He can’t exactly call me on it.”

“Like hell he can’t. Have you heard how he talks about Ling?”

“Eh. Whatever it is, he probably deserved it.”

Winry faked a gasp. “Don’t talk about your boyfriend that way!”

“So I can call the Fuhrer a bastard, but I can’t make fun of my fiancee?”

“Okay, fair enough.” Winry paused. “Wait. You said you were passing through Rush Valley, right?”

“I was planning on staying the night with you, if that’s okay?”

She groaned. “That means I have to clean!”

A snicker crackled over the phone line. “We can get a hotel room, then. Can we at least come over for dinner?”

Winry took a deep breath. “Yeah, okay. Dinner I can do.”

“Awesome! See you tomorrow at seven!”

She was about to protest at the timing, but Ed had already hung up. Instead, she sighed, and left the telephone on its rest. She wandered back over to her worktable, illuminated by the fading light trickling through her window. She stared into the nuts and bolts, as if somehow they might cure her now-far-worse headache. Hell, if they could rustle up a meal for three in twenty-four hours, that would be just as good.

Such was Edward Elric, though. He was… predictably unpredictable. Ever since they were little, she’d known everything about him, and none of it was remotely what anyone else would expect of him. For instance, she’d known from the moment she laid eyes on him and Ling in the same room that the two were about to be head over heels for each other—a hothead and a sunbeam, a State Alchemist and a prince of Xing, the two somehow destined for each other (or so Ling liked to claim when he’d had a little too much to drink). No one would really figure they’d fall for each other, except Winry.

This meant she was both shocked by the sudden visit and, honestly? Completely unsurprised. Edward Elric had never met common courtesy before in his life. 

Unfortunately, the kitchen upstairs currently had several metal appendages taking a spa day in the sink, a few surgeon’s tools on the drying rack, and, in terms of food, maybe two or three mildew-filled apples on the counter. She’d have to get to the market tomorrow morning. Oh, god, tomorrow had a morning. One she would have to wake up during.

Winry yawned, reaching her arms to almost touch the low ceiling, and stepped away from the worktable. Sadly, the bolts seemed utterly inept in the culinary department. She grabbed her glass of water and headed for bed. The morning could wait. The moment called for hydration, sleep, and no more Elrics, Yaos, or automail.

-

“Can I give you a hand you with those?”

Winry hefted the groceries onto the table. “That’s new. You’re usually never this helpful without bribery.”

“Sure ain’t.” Paninya pulled her hand from behind her back to reveal a near-complete automail arm. “Sorry. If you want a better joke, I’m afraid I’m not _armed_ with any other ones.” She plopped the arm down beside the groceries and leaned in, her face a few inches from Winry’s. “But, hey, you know me. I’m always down for something new.”

Winry snorted, tossing her head back. If Paniya had wanted some humorous flirting, that was so not happening today. She was way too tired to keep character. “Says the girl who’s been running the same three cons for three years.”

“Hey!” Paninya struck the edge of the table with her fist. “Ow. You know, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

“You have absolutely never applied the same phrase to your legs.” Winry gestured at the heavily-modded automail sticking out from her cargo shorts.

“...Touché.” Paninya turned her attention to the groceries, her gaze sweeping over the three bloated bags. “Company tonight?”

Winry groaned. “Yeah, Ed and Ling are coming by. It’s gonna be so gross.”

“Gross?”

“They’re dating now.”

“Oh, _gross_.”

She sighed. “Yeah. Anyway, I’m making some lemon rosemary chicken and fried rice for tonight.”

“Ooh, can I help?” Paninya’s grin took up a solid half of her face. Winry hated it when she smiled like that. Usually, it meant she was going to wake up with a wicked headache. 

“Swear you won’t burn the house down?” Winry hazarded.

“On the valiant souls of my poor, late legs.” She tapped on her right thigh. Her fist made a loud enough clang for the hanging pots and pans to echo it back.

“I’ll take what I can get.” Winry dropped her shoulders in relief. She hadn’t realized how tense she had been about tonight. She had missed Ed, she really had. It was just that she’d maybe hoped he’d come… alone. Ling was a sweetheart and all, but people change when they’re around their significant other, and Winry missed Ed. The real Ed.

“Hey, hey. You okay?” Paninya crossed around the table and put a hand on Winry’s back.

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Shit, she really hadn’t meant for this to happen. Her and Paninya… it wasn’t that they weren’t close, but they sure weren’t crying-about-missing-your-childhood-best-friend friends. They were maybe getting-a-little-buzzed-and-talking-about-trauma friends at their deepest. “I guess I’m kind of… jealous?”

“Hang on, what?” Paninya giggled. “You still like Ed? A tall, handsome ladykiller like you should not be stuck on him.”

“Oh, god.” The color drained out of Winry’s face. “No, absolutely not. It’s more like…” She just didn’t know how to put it into words.

“I think I get it.” Paninya backed off of Winry, sliding her weight onto the table and propping up one of her feet with a gentle clank. “You’re jealous cause he started dating before you did.”

Winry opened her mouth to contradict Paninya. Then she closed it. Her first thought had been, _No, I just miss him._ Her second thought, though, was a lot more reasonable: _That is an incredibly good excuse to not be talking about my feelings._ So instead of digging too deep into how much she loves her friends at one in the afternoon, she said, “Yeah. Yeah, for sure.”

“I knew it. Us gays get lonely in small towns like this.” Paninya reached out a hand and shoved her shoulder gently. “That’s just how it is sometimes for folks like you and me.

“Don’t I know it?” Winry let out a deep breath. Oh-kay. She could totally repress some emotions long enough to fool Paninya into thinking all was well. Totally.

Except… 

Paninya slapped a hand down on the table. “I know! We should make _him_ jealous.”

“... Explain?”

“He’s going to waltz in here with his emperor boyfriend and expect to be able to flaunt all over you and me and whoever else they see on the street how happy they are, those fools. Meanwhile, we’ll surprise them.”

Winry crossed her arms. “You still have not explained.”

“I’m getting there, hang on.” She jumps off the table and begins pacing around the room, arms narrowly avoiding collisions with hanging kitchenware and cabinets. “Imagine a scene: you lead them in the door to see me, already preparing dinner. Not too odd, since Ed knows we eat together a lot. I’m wearing an apron. Okay, strange. Ed knows I don’t care about my clothes at all. See, that’s when we’ve thrown him off his rhythm.”

Suspicious, but not yet a problem, as far as Winry could see. “Go on.”

“You come over to the sink, where I’m washing a pot. Super strange. Ed knows for sure that I’ve never done dishes in my life.” Winry suppressed a chuckle at this. At least she’s honest about it.

“Then you kiss me on the cheek and introduce me to Ling as your girlfriend, Paninya.”

“Sorry, what!?” Winry had never killed anyone before, but she was fairly certain now that she could. “You uppity, presumptuous little—”

“Hey, hear me out, okay?” Paninya had made her way back to the other side of the table. She held up her hands in a gesture of peace. “All will be made clear.”

“Good, cause right now, it’s clear as your bathwater.” Winry rolled her eyes.

“Rude and unnecessary. Anyway, we act as unrealistically goopy as we possibly can. We get them to believe the con.” She paused. “Actually, only Elric needs to believe us. He’s dumb as rocks. Won’t be too hard.”

“No way. I mean, sure, Ed and Ling are annoying, but isn’t this kind of immoral? They don’t deserve to be lied to just because I…”

“...Am a fun and interesting person who is totally gonna do this totally fun and interesting thing with me, Paninya, your best friend?” She reached out and squeezed Winry’s shoulder. “Come on. If not for you, for me?”

Something in Winry softened a little. Maybe it was her heart, but she had a feeling it was one of her less favorite organs. Maybe her brain, that idiot. Whatever it was, it made Paninya, for that split second, feel like the most important thing in the world.

“Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

Paninya let go of her shoulder and pumped her fist in the air. “Perfect! I’ll start on dinner. Let me know when their train comes in so I can put on one of Mister Garfiel’s stupid aprons.”

Winry laughed. “Could you not just put one on now?”

“You know, honey, you just have no respect for my lifestyle.”

-

So far, things had gone to plan. Unfortunately, as Winry had realized once they sat down for dinner, they hadn’t planned half of enough.

“So, how did you two meet?” Ling asked with a wide grin. Winry had no clue how he managed to talk that loudly with that much fried rice in his mouth.

She opened her mouth to speak, but Paninya was faster. “Oh, we delivered a baby together. Very romantic, as I’m sure Edward here can attest. After that night she, uh, consulted on my automail from then on, if you know what I mean.” She winked.

“As I recall, it wasn’t quite romantic. Besides, we technically met when you stole my watch,” Ed grumbled. He picked at the chicken with his fork. “Winry, how come you didn’t tell me over the phone that you and our local petty thief were dating?”

Winry gulped down some water. “I, uh—”

“She wanted it to be a surprise!” Paninya stretched her grin to match Ling’s. 

“Yeah. That.” Winry coughed. Nothing was sitting right tonight, and it wasn’t just because Paninya might have undercooked the chicken. “Didn’t want you teasing me before you could see how… happy? I am?”

Paninya kicked her foot under the table. “Ling, I’m sure you understand. Ed and Winry are like siblings—you have siblings, don’t you?”

“Oh, yes! They mostly try to have me killed, though. Very unpleasant folks.”

“Ah.” Paninya’s smile didn’t falter.

Winry wished she could say the same of her own. Edward had been staring at her all night, and she couldn’t figure out why. _He definitely knows,_ her first thoughts said. Her second thoughts didn’t have time to form before she realized Paninya was touching her face.

“Winry, silly, you’ve got rosemary on your face!” Paninya’s own face was inches from hers. “Can’t have that, now, can we?”

“Sure can’t,” whispered Winry.

Ling snickered. “Oh, Edward, if only you let me do that. You’re so unromantic sometimes.”

Ed feigned offense. “Me? Unromantic? Go back home and look at all the letters I write you and say that again.”

Ling pouted. “Oh, come on. If you weren’t always traveling I wouldn’t have to rely on those letters!”

While they were busy bickering, Paninya leaned over to Winry, her nose brushing Winry’s ear. “Should we be doing that?”

“Nah. That’s just Ed,” Winry muttered. She elbowed Paninya away, hiding the motion by reaching for more rice.

“Anyway!” Ling said. “We should really be talking about you two. When did you get together?”

Winry looked at Paninya.

Paninya looked at Winry.

Winry said, “The sheep festival in Resembool a month ago,” at exactly the same time Paninya said, “Last week.”

Paninya wheeled around in her chair. “A month ago?” she sputtered.

Though her face was pale, Winry quickly deduced there was no way out. “ Oh, honey. Did you not know?”

“I…” Paninya blinked. “I guess I didn’t.”

“Did you think that kiss on the roof of my grandmother’s house was platonic?” She raised an eyebrow, barely containing her laughter.

“I don’t know, I guess?”

“And the kiss in the old barn?”

“...Yes?”

“And the time we danced at Dominic’s family reunion?”

“Yeah, okay, maybe I was a little—”

Winry couldn’t take this much longer. “What about the time we took off—”

Ed stood abruptly, knocking his chair to the floor. “I want to hear exactly zero more words out of your mouth, Winry.”

Meanwhile, Ling was howling with laughter. “Oh, oh, Paninya, you and Ed have so much in common! You two should talk more!”

She couldn’t help herself. Winry started cackling. 

Paninya stood, too. “Okay, everyone, I guess I’m pretty stupid. But I’m also pretty tired.” Winry could hear her bite back an implied _of this bullshit_. “Ling, Edward, it was lovely to have you, but now—” She yawned, and Winry had no idea how real it was— “It’s time to go.”

Edward was still staring silently at Winry, leaving Ling to play houseguest. “Of course! Edward, we need to go check into the inn. It was so nice seeing you two, thank you for having us, Edward pick up that chair, goodbye!”

Ed did pick up the chair, but he wasn’t breaking eye contact with Winry. “Thanks for the meal,” he mumbled. “See y’all tomorrow at the station.”

Before he could follow Ling out the door to wear Paninya was waiting to walk them out, Winry pulled him aside. “Ed, why the look? What’s your problem with me and Paninya?”

“My problem is you seem miserable,” he said, his tone sharp and honest. “Winry, if you kept it a secret this long, and you look that uncomfortable around her, I’m worried about you. More than that, I’m pissed at her. You deserve better.”

Well. That was another problem entirely. “Ed, we’re just… fighting right now.”

“Same line Mom used to use with me and Al.”

“No, damn it, Ed, listen for once in your life,” Winry said, her voice cracking a bit. “Paninya is a wonderful person. She’s strong, she’s tough, she’s witty, she’s frankly gorgeous when the sun hits those muscles just right, and…” She blinked. “Sorry. Lost my train of thought. Point is, I do love her—” _Not technically a lie,_ Winry thought— “it’s just that I’m really bad at this.” _Also not a lie._

“Bad at what, exactly?”

Winry bit her lip. “Posing. Preening. You know, everything your boyfriend does so well. Surely you get it? It’s hard to seem happy when you’re always feeling outclassed by your partner.” Oh, good one, Rockbell. That’ll hit him right in the mild self-loathing.

“I guess.” Ed softened, but he wasn’t about to leave yet. “Just call me when I reach Central, when Paninya’s not in the room. I want to talk about the two of you, and we don’t really have time right now.” He cracked a smile. “Mostly, I want to know how you went from fawning over her automail to fawning over her. As far as I know, those legs are like, half her redeeming qualities.”

Winry just smiled. “See you later, Ed.”

“See ya.”

-

Paninya groaned and flopped onto the floor of Winry’s bedroom. “That was exhausting. My cheeks hurt from all the smiling.”

Winry sighed into her pillow. “My stomach hurts from your horrible cooking.”

“Come on, it wasn’t so bad,” Paninya protested. She paused, and in an instant, her tone went from her usual snark to the most genuine Winry may have ever seen her. “Would some fresh air help?”

“Why do I get the feeling this is some kind of scheme?”

“Everything I do is a scheme, darling.” Ah, there it was. The snark was back, and the world was no longer sideways.

Paninya motioned for Winry to follow her as she climbed onto the open window sill. Winry stood, but froze. “Uh, I am so not doing that.”

“I’ve done this in reverse plenty of times before. It should be fine! More than that, it’ll be fun. Help take your mind off of… whatever it’s on, right now.” Paninya’s brow furrowed. “Is it drugs? Are you on drugs?”

“I’m not on drugs, Paninya,” Winry said dryly. “I’m also not about to climb onto the roof. I’m also not about to blindly accept that you sneak into my home and place of work via the window of my bedroom with enough frequency for you to be this familiar with it.” She stopped and thought for a minute about exactly how much her poor, tired brain could take tonight. “Actually. I’m going to accept that. Honestly, it’s very on-brand for you.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Paninya got out of the window sill, briefly sparking some hope in Winry. That hope died as soon as Paninya picked her up, bridal-style, and carried her to the window.

“Hold on, just what do you think you’re doing?” Winry protested. She couldn’t muster a lot of resistance, though. Paninya had clearly done this before—this meaning carrying someone much taller than her with her secure, muscular arms, not climbing out the window with a squirming damsel all over her. Wherever Paninya’s skin touched her own, Winry felt an odd heat. No, not heat. It was more like awareness. She couldn’t stop feeling Paninya’s arms around her, even, she realized, when she was no longer touching her. Paninya had already set her down on the flat roof of the studio. “Holy sh—”

“Shh.” Paninya pressed a finger to her lips. “Don’t wake up the neighbors. The couple next door has a baby, and tonight is the first time I haven’t heard her cry though the night.”

Winry squinted at her in the dim moonlight. “How often do you come up here?”

“... Every time I get locked out?”

“Dominic locks you out?”

“If I stay out too late. He can’t exactly risk his whole business getting taken away in the night just cause I might be a little cold.”

Winry blinked. As her eyes adjusted, she could make out a trademark Paninya Grin forming on her friend’s face. Which, of course, would be all well and good except that it was obviously fake. “So all the nights we’d be out running your cons…?”

“Yeah.” She shrugged. “It’s not like it’s a huge deal. I usually just hang out by the chimney. Keeps me warm. Your boss wastes a lot of wood keeping that fire going, by the way.”

“Did he know?”

“Maybe.”

She didn’t know what to do with this information. Paninya had been roughing it on the studio’s roof all month, and for what? Some pocket change? An interesting, if cheap, ring? Winry knew she never stole anything that might be missed, not anymore. Not after Ed’s watch. Was all that worth it?

“I mean, yeah.”

Damn mouth. Always running around without supervision. “How the hell could a few cens be worth cold nights on my roof?”

“I wasn’t really doing it for the money.” Her expression had gone from false happiness to something else. Something deeply, indescribably honest.

“What were you doing it for, then? You idiot, no wonder I’m constantly fixing your automail. You know your legs need to be kept at a comfortable temperature, otherwise the joints lock and you might…” Winry trailed off. “What were you doing it for?”

“I guess I just wanted to spend time with you.” Paninya wouldn’t meet Winry’s eyes.

She managed a chuckle. “I mean, I like spending time with you, too, but… really?”

Something seemed to shift in Paninya. Her shoulders tensed. She turned to Winry, and, god, Winry could swear she was dreaming right now. This wasn’t the Paninya at dinner. This was the Paninya she only saw when they were alone. When Paninya had gotten in a scrap, or fallen off a roof, and needed repairs. When she’d gotten some less-than-constructive criticism from Dominic and she just couldn’t take it. When she was without all the masks, the poses, the smiles, she was just… Paninya. Paninya alone.

She cupped Winry’s cheek. “Really,” she breathed.

Winry was someone who liked it when things made sense. She didn’t like the not-knowing that came with Paninya sometimes—the chaos could get to be something past fun and into terrifying for her. She was, at heart, a no-nonsense country girl, and Paninya was full of nonsense and that horrible, horrible uncertainty.

When she kissed Paninya, she had never been more certain of anything in her life.

It started slow, like the first dance at a party. The orchestra that was the two of them was tuning up, getting into rhythm, learning how to rise and fall just so. But as soon as Winry sensed Paninya gaining confidence, she was soon pinned to the roof. Suddenly, the confusion that had been their uncomfortable silences and unexplainable tension made perfect sense. Hands met hands met ribs, shoulders, thighs—

And it was over.

“Paninya?” Winry murmured.

“Winry?”

“We should really do dinner more often.”


End file.
